"Soul Salvation," Part 3

Saving Your Soul By Doing Good

James 1:21

by Bob Wilkin

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness,
and receive with meekness the
implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

This verse certainly is confusing for the person
who understands it as dealing with how a person obtains eternal
salvation from hell. Note the
conditions stated. There are two. The first is turning from one's
sins. This is moral reform. The
second is receiving the word, which the following verses clearly
show results in to doing good
deeds.

Nowhere does this verse or the verses which follow state the
need to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ to obtain this "soul salvation."

If this verse and passage is talking about
how one obtains eternal life, then it teaches works salvation,
pure and simple.

Clearly this
passage is not talking about eternal salvation at all.

It is my thesis that this passage is instead
talking about the salvation of believers, people who are
eternally secure, from temporal
judgment. The following exposition will defend that thesis.

Believers Being Addressed

Verse 21 is a logical continuation (note the first word,
therefore) of vv 19-20 which are
addressed to "my beloved brethren." That designation in
turn looks back to vv 17-18
where James indicates that both he and his readers are recipients
of the free gift of eternal
salvation and hence have been born again. There is no
doubt, therefore, that in v 21 James is
addressing believers, eternally-secure people.

Discipleship in View

The two conditions given, turning from sins and receiving God's
word (with the result that one
does good deeds), are repeatedly given in Scripture as conditions
of discipleship. See, for
example, Acts 20:27-38; Rom 12:9-15:3; 1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Cor
5:9-10; Eph 4:17-31; 1 Tim 6:11; 2
Tim 2:21-26; Titus 3:1-8; Heb 13:1-9; James 5:7-12; 1 Pet
1:13-16; 2:1-2. All of these passages
are clearly addressed to Christians and call upon them to avoid
sinning and to apply God's word
in order to grow as Christians, to please God, to avoid temporal
judgment, and to lay up treasure
in heaven.

As mentioned above, avoiding sin and doing good are not
conditions of eternal
salvation (cf. Rom 4:5-8; Eph 2:9; Titus 3:5). Instead, the one
and only condition of eternal
salvation, which is not even mentioned here, is believing in
Jesus Christ (cf. John 3:16; 4:10ff;
5:24; 6:47; Rom 4:1-5; 5:1; Gal 3:6-14; Eph 2:8).

Receiving the Implanted Word

God's word is in believers because they have been begotten of God
("He brought us forth
by the word of truth" v 18). Thus "the implanted
word" (or "the innate
word") is completely natural to the believer. Of
course, this cannot be true of unregenerate
people.

The word receive (Gk dechomai) here carries the
idea of welcoming. As a matter of fact,
the word is often used in the NT to refer to hospitality,
welcoming people into one's home (cf.
BGD, p 177; Luke 9:5; 10:8; 16:4; Col 4:10; Heb 11:31). Because
God's word is natural to
believers, they should welcome (i.e., fully approve and
accept) it as they would a friend into
their home.

Saving Your Souls

This passage is in harmony
with many other passages in Scripture which speak of saving one's
physical life from the
consequences of sin. For example, consider the following verses
from Proverbs and Ezekiel:

As righteousness leads to life,
So he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

(Prov 11:19)

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
To turn one away from the snares of death.

(Prov 14:27)

The soul that sins shall die.

(Ezek 18:4,20)

James is warning believers that failure to obey God will result
in loss of one's physical life.
James made this same point earlier in chapter one when he wrote,
"sin, when it is full
grown, brings forth death" (1:15).

Of course, while the immediate death of believers due to
sin is reported on occasion in Scripture (e.g., Nadab and Abihu,
Lev 10:1-2; Ananias and
Saphira, Acts 5:1-11), this is not the norm. Rather, as one of my
professors in seminary liked to
illustrate it, sin is death dealing. Every card it deals says
"death" on it. To play in the
card game of sin is to invite one's own death. The more one sins,
the closer his or his death
approaches (and the more miserable his or her present experience
becomes). Being eternally
secure does not exempt believers from the death-dealing
consequences of sin.

Conclusion

The freeness of the Gospel is not an invitation to carnality and
disobedience. While eternal life is
absolutely free, temporal well-being is not.

There are many things which should motivate us to
obey God. Surely gratitude and love are preeminent motivations (2
Cor 5:14). The prospect of
the Judgment Seat of Christ and eternal rewards are also vital
motivations (Matt 6:19-21; 1 Cor
9:24-27; 2 Cor 5:10; James 5:7-12). However, one motivation
sometimes overlooked which is
also biblical and powerful is temporal well-being. The obedient
Christian will experience inner
joy and peace (Gal 5:22-23). The disobedient Christian will not.